


I Said Forever

by twisting_vine_x



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-19
Updated: 2012-06-19
Packaged: 2017-11-08 02:31:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/438158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twisting_vine_x/pseuds/twisting_vine_x
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Rose and the Doctor land on a distant planet, they stumble right into a disease that only humans are vulnerable to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Said Forever

When Rose had considered the idea of her own death, she had never imagined it to be like this.

Distantly, she can hear the doctor shouting something, can faintly hear the panic in his voice, but everything around her seems to be blurring around the edges. She tries to get her eyes open, tries to see what the hell is going on, but then a wave of pain shoots through her body, stopping the air in her lungs and washing the edges of her vision with blackness, and all she can do is groan and hold on tight to the hand that has slipped into hers.

“Rose! Rose, listen to me, Rose, I promise – I promise, I’ll –”

She can feel her lips move, tries to get them to form around words, tries to bite down against the taste of regret and tell him it’s okay, tell him she doesn’t blame him, tell him that she had wanted to be here – but the words won’t come, the waves and waves of pain stealing them away, and when a world of darkness washes over her again, even the fingers clutched between her own aren’t enough to stop her from slipping under.

\- - -

When Rose begins to wake up again, the first thing she registers is surprise that she’s even still alive to wake up. The second thing is that her eyes are open, staring up at a strange ceiling, and the third is – is that she can’t move. She tries to move her limbs, tries get words out, tries to get a hand off whatever she’s lying on – and she can’t.

The blind terror that shoots straight through her is nauseating, and she knows she’d be trembling if she could. Trying to breathe through the panic, trying to ignore the fact that her entire body is numb, she focuses on the things she can see – the strange patterns on the ceiling, the sight of the doctor’s body draped across her own, just barely visible at the angle her eyes are tilted at. She tries again to move, tries to get a hand down to tangle into his hair, and when her body refuses to respond, it just makes things worse than she can’t even get her frustration out as a noise.

 _This,_ she thinks suddenly, even as she deliberately begins to compartmentalize the panic still licking around the edge of her senses, _is not how I am going to die._

She’s going to trust in the doctor, the same way she always has – blind trust, maybe, but he’s never let her down before. And so she’s going to put every bit of herself into fighting this – whatever it is. Because there are still countless worlds to see, and no way is some random disease going to cut her down when she is so far from being done with running with the doctor.

“Doctor?”

Rose can hear another voice, can watch as the doctor lifts his arms and face off her stomach – and wow, does he look horrible. Hair flying everywhere, skin the color of faded parchment, a sharp line across his cheek from where he’s been lying against her shirt zipper – and even under the circumstances, with her entire being focused on not freaking out, the obvious concern is still enough to tighten her chest in a way that doesn’t feel completely unpleasant.

“Yes?”

She can’t see the newcomer, and another frustrated noise tries to escape. Local alien inhabitants? Some kind of actual doctor? Someone who can tell her why her entire body is frozen? She finds herself trying to scratch the sheets with frustration, and her hand suddenly hurts with how empty it feels. How much she wants the doctor’s hand back in hers. Something to hold her down, something to anchor her – keep her from flying apart with how badly she wants to move.

“It is a paralytic disease, doctor. Our people here have long become immune to it, and it seems that you are as well.”

“Is she –“

“You did well to get her to us, and the medication we gave her is strong, but I cannot guarantee that she will survive. It will depend on her previous health, her own determination, her –”

“You’re saying she could still die?”

“I’m saying we don’t know.”

There’s silence then, until the doctor nods sharply and turns back to Rose, staring down at her, and god, she wants to move. She tries to move her eyes, even, tries to communicate that she’s here, and that she’s fighting, but nothing seems to work, and the frustrated noise she wants to make gets caught in her chest. All the while, the doctor just stares down at her, his own emotions an open mess across his face, until he finally speaks, the question thrown over his shoulder.

“What can I do?”

“Get her off this planet. There is nothing more we can do for her, and here, she will be constantly exposed to the disease.”

“The medication –”

“One dose will either heal her, or it will not.”

The other person – alien – whoever – in the room doesn’t sound particularly troubled by the idea, though there does seem to be a hint of sympathy in his – its – voice. Rose stops thinking about that at all when the doctor exhales sharply and turns away from her, back to the other person.

“Thank you, more than I can say. For your help, for the medication –”

“It is our custom to help strangers in need.”

“Well – thank you.

“It is of no concern, doctor.”

Rose can’t really see what’s going on anymore, can only make out the edge of the doctor’s back, but she’s pretty sure she almost see the tension that’s vibrating just underneath his skin. 

“Do you have some kind of stretcher?”

“No. You carried her here – surely you can carry her back?”

Rose has a moment of distantly trying to imagine that – she’s not that much smaller than the doctor; how could he possibly have managed to carry her over any kind of real distance? – and she’s pretty sure her own incredulity is echoed in the frustrated tone of the doctor’s voice.

“One of your people, then? Someone to help me? I want to make the trip as easy as possible, anything that could help –”

“Alright, doctor. I will see if any of my –”

There’s more, Rose realizes distantly, but blinding pain is suddenly ricocheting through her, blurring the edges of her vision, cracking through the numbness that had held her down – and that’s her own voice she can hear yelling, her body shaking as she tries to grasp for the doctor, but the darkness is back again, and throwing herself against it does nothing to stop it from taking her down again.

\- - -

The next time she resurfaces, she can barely count it as such. She knows she’s on the Tardis – can see the familiar walls – but everything is fuzzy around her, and her limbs still feel like they’ve been pinned to the floor. There’s some sensation, though, and she distantly thinks she should be grateful, but the emotion comes to her from far away, everything around her muffled.

“Rose – come on, Rose, don’t leave me –”

It takes everything she has to blink, even once. The simple action sends a rush of satisfaction through her, blasting through some of the fuzziness, and then she’s trying to breathe through a full on burst of elation, because this must mean she’s getting better – surely, this is all a good sign, and she’s not going to die on this planet after all.

The doctor, though, doesn’t seem to know that, based on the way he’s got his head resting on her stomach, and his hand squeezed so tightly in her own that the pain almost outweighs the sensation of feeling coming back to her limbs.

“I told you I’d look after you, and that’s what I’m going to do. That’s what I’m always going to do. You’re going to get better, Rose, I promise – I need you to get better – I need you, please –”

Darkness is coming at her again, but this time when it pulls her down, and even though something in her chest is aching at the fear in his voice, she thinks she can feel her lips trying to make an attempt at a smile.

\- - - 

When Rose comes to again, there’s no numbness this time.

And everything hurts.

A gasp rips from her before she can stop it, leaving her panting for oxygen, clinging to the pain like a lifeline – and then she becomes aware of arms around her, and a body pressed up against her own, the doctor breathing right into her neck. He’s all sharp edges against her, hipbones pressed up against her body and his thin arms wrapped tight around her, and all she can do is close her eyes with gratitude and press back into him, trying to breathe through the pain still making itself known across her body.

“Doctor –”

It’s all she manages, her voice rubbed raw – probably from screaming – and then the body behind her freezes, the doctor going impossibly still against her.

“Rose? Are you –”

She can’t help but wheeze out a little laugh, relief sweeping across her entire body all at once, and then she’s being turned – gently – on to her back, the slight movement pulling a wince from her, but not enough to stop her hand from going up – she can move, _finally_ – into the doctor’s hair. His eyes are wide as he stares down at her, some mixture of relief and incredulity, and she wheezes out another laugh as she closes her eyes, tightening her fingers in his ridiculous hair.

“I’m fine, doctor. I’m – well, I still hurt, but I think I’m –”

She’s cut off by a pair of lips pressed against the skin of her forehead, and her entire body washes warm as the doctor pulls back only far enough to rest their foreheads together, so close to her that his face is blurred.

“Don’t you ever do that to me again, Rose Tyler.”

His voice is cracked around the edges, almost as rough as her own, and Rose has to swallow hard before she can talk again.

“You’re not getting rid of me that easy. I said forever, remember?”

The doctor makes a noise that sounds almost hurt, and all Rose can do is close her eyes and wrap her aching arms around him, pulling him close and holding on to him as tight as she can.


End file.
